Uncategorized

Voltage stability buffers are necessary to prevent the power system from operating near the voltage collapse point. Operating the system close to its collapse point can result in voltage instability due to system model inaccuracies. Current methods for determining voltage stability buffers are based on arbitrary safety margins of typically 5%. In this paper, a new method has been developed to provide for a defined process to calculate voltage stability buffers based on load model variations. The new method incorporates load models as well as traditional voltage stability methods (P-Q curves). A load composite mix model for western Kansas power system was used to determine a more appropriate voltage stability buffer taking into consideration its unique load mix. Results of applying the new method indicated that the calculated buffer (2.6%) was much lower than the arbitrary 5% buffer. Not using the proposed method to calculate voltage stability buffer may unnecessarily limit system capabilities for adding new loads.

This paper discusses a simple method to perform peak load shaving through the means of energy storage systems owned by a utility. Peak load shaving, also referred to as load leveling or peak shifting, consists of the schemes used to eliminate the peaks and valleys in the load profile. This practice offers direct and indirect benefits to utilities in generation costs, line loss reduction, and volt support. Prior work in peak load shaving has been mainly focused on optimization approaches implemented through methods such as non-linear and dynamic programming, or heuristic approaches such as particle-swarm optimization. The proposed algorithm for peak load shaving in this paper is based on a simple approach which compares the aggregated load profile with its average in a certain utilization period and shares the charge/discharge amongst energy storage devices based on the definition of energy bars and weighting factors. In particular, the paper focuses on the usage of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to accomplish this task. Results show that the proposed algorithm offers a simple, fast and effective way for peak-load shaving without heavy computational burdens often needed in other methods. As a result, it can be easily implemented in a utility main substation for controlling the charge/discharge of storage devices throughout the distribution system.

NAPS is held every year at a university in North America and provides an international open forum for participants from academia and industry to exchange innovative ideas and solutions. NAPS will continue the long held tradition of encouraging presentation of papers by students and recognizing their best efforts by awards at the end of the symposium.

Authors are invited to submit their manuscript electronically by May 19, 2014. Please refer to the symposium website http://www.epapers.org/naps2014 for instructions on paper formatting, organization, and submission. Accepted papers will have to be presented at the symposium and will be included in the Symposium Proceedings and IEEE Explore (subject to IEEE approval) provided at least one of the authors registers and presents the paper at the symposium.

We cordially invite you to attend the 45th North American Power Symposium (NAPS), which will be held on the campus of the Kansas State University on September 22-24, 2013. NAPS is held every year at a different university in North America and provides an open forum for participants from academia and industry to exchange innovative ideas and solutions. NAPS will continue the long held tradition of encouraging student-presented papers and recognizing student best efforts by awards to be presented at the end of the symposium. NAPS welcomes papers on analytical, computational, experimental studies aimed at solving problems related to operation, control, monitoring, protection, reliability as well as economics of power and energy systems and components.